Born April 15, 1956, in Cleveland, Ohio. Willoughby, Ohio, is his hometown. Married. Three children. Enjoys building his own airplane, golf, flying, basketball, running, and snow skiing.

EDUCATION:

Graduated from Willoughby South High School in 1974; received a bachelor of science degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from Purdue University in 1978, and a master of science degree in physical science from University of Houston-Clear Lake in 1986.

ORGANIZATIONS:

Member, Sigma Chi Fraternity, Omicron Delta Kappa, Sigma Gamma Tau.

SPECIAL HONORS:

Recipient of several NASA performance awards, three NASA Space Flight Medals, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, the 1995 American Astronautical Society Flight Achievement Award, the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal for his work on STS-61, the Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, and the Sigma Chi Fraternity Significant Sig award.

NASA EXPERIENCE:

Mr. Harbaugh came to NASA's Johnson Space Center after graduation from Purdue. Since 1978 he has held engineering and technical management positions in Space Shuttle flight operations. Mr. Harbaugh supported Shuttle flight operations from Mission Control for most of the flights from STS-1 through STS 51-L. He served as Lead Data Processing Systems (DPS) Officer for STS-9 (Spacelab-1) and STS 41-D, Orbit DPS for STS 41-B and STS 41-C, and Ascent/Entry DPS for STS 41-G. Harbaugh also served as a senior flight controller addressing issues requiring real-time resolution for several flights from STS 51-A through STS 51-L.

Mr. Harbaugh has a commercial pilot's license with instrument rating, and over 1500 hours total flying time.

Selected by NASA in June 1987, Mr. Harbaugh became an astronaut in August 1988. His technical assignments to date have included work in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL), the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (RMS), telerobotics systems development for Space Station, the Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission development, spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM) in Mission Control, and extravehicular activity (EVA) for the International Space Station Alpha (ISSA).

Mr. Harbaugh flew as a Mission Specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-39, from April 28 through May 6, 1991. This eight-day unclassified Department of Defense mission involved research for the Strategic Defense Initiative. Mr. Harbaugh was responsible for operation of the RMS and the Infrared Background Signature Survey (IBSS) spacecraft, and he was one of two crewmen trained for EVA in the event of a contingency requiring a space walk. Mission duration was 199 hours, 22 minutes.

Mr. Harbaugh then served as Flight Engineer (Mission Specialist) aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-54, January 13-19, 1993. The six-day mission featured the deployment of TDRS-F, and a 4-hour 28-minute space walk by Mr. Harbaugh. Mission duration was 143 hours 38 minutes.

Mr. Harbaugh was also assigned as the backup EVA crew member for STS-61, the first Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission.

From June 27 to July 7, 1995, Mr. Harbaugh flew as the Flight Engineer (Mission Specialist) on a seven-member (up) eight-member (down) crew on Space Shuttle mission STS-71. This was the first docking with the Russian Space Station Mir, and involved an exchange of crews. The Atlantis Space Shuttle was modified to carry a docking system compatible with the Russian Mir Space Station. Mr. Harbaugh was responsible for the inflight operation of the docking system. He was also assigned to perform any contingency EVA, although none was required. Mission duration was 235 hours, 23 minutes.

More recently, Mr. Harbaugh served on the crew of STS-82, the second Hubble Space Telescope (HST) maintenance mission. STS-82 launched at night on February 11 and returned to a night landing at Kennedy Space Center on February 21, 1997. During the 9-day flight, the crew retrieved and secured the HST in Discovery's payload bay. In five space walks, two teams installed two new spectrometers and eight replacement instruments, as well as placing insulation patches over several compartments containing key data processing, electronics and scientific instrument telemetry packages. Mr. Harbaugh participated in two space walks, totaling 14 hours and 01 minute. Following completion of upgrades and repairs, HST was redeployed and boosted to its highest orbit ever. The flight was completed in 149 orbits covering 3.8 million miles in 239 hours, 37 minutes.

A veteran of four space flights, Mr. Harbaugh has logged a total of 818 hours in space, including 18 hours, 29 minutes EVA.

NASA Group 12 - 1987 Requirement: pilot, engineer, and scientist astronauts for space shuttle flights. Nickname: The Gaffers (acronym for 'George Abbey Final Fifteen' - the last group selected with George Abbey as Director of Flight Crew Operations). The class motto: 'What's the rush?' since there was expected to be along wait for flights after the Challenger disaste More...

Mir The Mir space station was the last remnant of the once mighty Soviet space programme. It was built to last only five years, and was to have been composed of modules launched by Proton and Buran/Energia launch vehicles. These modules were derived from those originally designed by Chelomei in the 1960's for the Almaz military station programme. As the Soviet Union collapsed Mir stayed in orbit, but the final modules were years late and could only be completed with American financial assistance. Kept flying over a decade beyond its rated life, Mir proved a source of pride to the Russian people and proved the ability of their cosmonauts and engineers to improvise and keep operations going despite all manner of challenges and mishaps. More...

STS The Space Transportation System (Space Shuttle) was conceived originally as a completely reusable system that would provide cheap, routine access to space and replace all American and civilian military launch vehicles. Crippled by technological overreach, political compromise, and budget limitations, it instead ended up costing more than the expendable rockets it was to have replaced. STS sucked the money out of all other NASA projects for half a century. The military abandoned its use after the Challenger shuttle explosion in the 1980's. More...

Mission Specialists: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics and minimum three years of related experience or an advanced degree. Vision minimum 20/150 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20. Maximum sitting blood pressure of 140/90. Height between 150 and 193 cm.. First selection after the Challenger accident. 1962 applicants, 117 finalists. Reported to Johnson Space Center on August 17, 1987, to begin their one year training. Seven pilots and eight mission specialists. Two female mission specialists, including the first black woman astronaut. Ten military officers and five civilians (including three from NASA Johnson and one from NASA Marshall).